Just a few weeks after talking about milk price pressure, Tirlán’s 4c/l cut this month feels like a real slap in the face. Farmers are being asked to carry the can once again while everyone else in the chain protects their margin.

A drop of that size in one go is not just a minor adjustment – it’s a major hit to already stretched family farms. Inputs haven’t fallen, bills keep coming, and yet we’re expected to absorb the loss and get on with it.

The message it sends is worrying: that the people producing the product are the easiest target when things get tight. There’s a breaking point coming if this continues.

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Processors and policymakers need to wake up to the reality on the ground – we can’t build a sustainable dairy sector on the back of farmers who are constantly being short-changed.

Farmers deserve respect and fairness, not to be treated as the shock absorbers for market swings. It’s time for co-ops, and policymakers to stand behind the people who actually keep the industry alive.

TB Findings

At our last discussion group meeting we had John Keane out with us, discussing his findings on a Nuffield scholarship he completed about TB. Almost every farmer in our group has been affected by TB.

For dairy farmers in rural Ireland, few words carry the same weight as “TB”. It’s a small abbreviation for a disease that casts a long shadow over family farms, livelihoods, and the future of rural communities.

You can be going along fine – herd in good condition, milk yields strong, and a steady rhythm to the work – when a single test result can change everything overnight. One reactor, one phone call, and suddenly the farm is plunged into months of uncertainty.

The emotional toll is immense. These aren’t just animals; they’re the product of years of breeding, care, and dedication. Watching healthy, high-quality cows being loaded for slaughter because of a TB breakdown is devastating.

It’s not just the loss of income – it’s the heartbreak of seeing the herd you’ve built dismantled through no fault of your own. The stress doesn’t end there: movement restrictions, repeated testing, and delays in selling or restocking add constant pressure.

While farmers understand the need to protect the national herd and maintain export standards, the frustration lies in the feeling that this fight is never-ending.

Despite decades of testing and controls, TB levels in cattle are not falling – in fact, in many areas, they are rising again. According to Department of Agriculture data, breakdown rates have increased in most counties over recent years, suggesting that the current strategy isn’t achieving the progress everyone hoped for.

It’s not just the loss of income – it’s the heartbreak of seeing the herd you’ve built dismantled through no fault of your own

Many countries have made great progress in controlling TB, so why can’t we look at what has worked in these countries and use it in Ireland? We seem going backwards here, we are definitely not making any progress.

Farmers have long called for more robust and transparent wildlife control measures not as a matter of blame, but as a matter of biological reality. If infection continues to circulate in wildlife populations, no amount of cattle testing will fully eradicate TB. This is what has worked very well in New Zealand.

The Government and veterinary services have made efforts – including the rollout of badger vaccination and ongoing surveillance, but this has not been consistent across the country and is almost pointless without consistency.

The TB eradication programme, now more than 60 years old, is costing tens of millions annually, yet farmers see little sign of a light at the end of the tunnel.